Smacked By The Cat, The Bell Dropped To The Floor

They say the holiday season is time to spend with family and friends, but darn it..I have been to busy!! Today we are making the time. We will drop whatever it is we “Have” to do and run out the door, jump in the car and go to my friends house. Even if whatever it is we “Have” to do jumps on my car, clings to the window and screams URGENT or YOU”LL BE DOOMED IF YOU DON’T DO WHAT YOU “HAVE” TO DO! Which almost never happens, so I will sit back relax and enjoy the festivities and friends.

Mockstrich season has begun. Welcome to “The Hunger But Mainly Death Games,” the hilarious Hunger Games parody, and the only book brave enough to suggest that Suzanne Collins’s epic trilogy was way more about death than food.

Or at least this is what Bratniss Everclean discovers, when she leaves the comforts of Slum 12, Pandumb’s garbage dump, to shortsightedly volunteer for a teenage death tournament. But she soon realizes there are fates worse than death…like weirdly having to date her fellow competitor, and lifelong stalker, Pita Malarkey. Okay, okay, it’s not worse than DEATH, but it’s still pretty annoying.

Still, with help from her agent Oofie Triptrip and her mentor, Hagridmitch, who’s pretty sure he can guide Bratniss to victory in the Tri-Wizard Cup, maybe Bratniss will somehow survive this book that she’s the narrator of. “The Hunger But Mainly Death Games” is the perfect book for anyone who’s going through Hunger Games withdrawal and ready for a wonderfully twisted take on their favorite story and characters. This book is also for the unfortunate teens who are trapped in a Hunger Games at this very moment and could really benefit from some levity. We’re here for you, assuming you brought your books into the arena.

You could learn more, do more, even live more. The potential is there. You could be anything: an engineer, a doctor, a chemist…

Or one of the most lethal Secret Service agents on the planet.

Undetectable is the story of Kevin Brooks, the first test subject of a new and unproven neurological technique called scrubbing. A private-school teacher in Manhattan, he has just landed a brand new job. It’s the most important, most dangerous job he’ll ever have.

He just doesn’t know about it yet.

Kevin will soon be in charge of protecting the greatest computer scientist of our generation. This man is on the verge of a breakthrough that could change all of our lives, and he already has 24-hour protection from the United States Secret Service. There are people who want this scientist dead, and these people know how to pick their moments. Which is why the man will soon be the beneficiary of a new kind of protector, an undetectable protector.

Now, in the second book of the Great Minds series, Kevin Brooks will be put through every imaginable test. He will have less than two weeks to prepare, but several years of training to absorb.

Whether he is ready in time or not, there will be lives that need saving. And no one else who can do the job.

Akira’s plans are simple: write wedding invitations, bake Christmas cookies, and eat red meat. (The last surprises her, too.) But when Rose, the ghost who haunts her house, asks for a favor, Akira can’t say no. Although she’s faced danger before, even death, a toddler who doesn’t like peanut-butter-and-jelly might be her worst nightmare.

Author’s note:The Spirits of Christmas is a short story (14,000 words) that takes place in the little window of time after the conclusion of A Gift of Thought but before the epilogue. I wrote it as a Christmas present for the readers whose encouragement was brightening my days, but it’s not a stand-alone story. If you haven’t read A Gift of Ghosts, you shouldn’t start here.

Jack Pagan might as well be 4½ months old. He awoke in a hospital after suffering a head injury that left him dead for over 67 minutes. All of his long-term memories were destroyed. Now he has to start his life again. But his accidental flirt with death left him a special gift. In those few minutes as he fades off to sleep each night, and in those early hours of the morning as he numbly awakens… he sees them.

At first, the shadows would just stretch into strange shapes and forms. Jack thought that he was hallucinating. That his medication was playing with his vision. Then the strange shadows began to walk around, moving freely. Jack chalked it up to a brain tumor. Some disease in his cerebral cortex. Schizophrenia, even. Something he could live with.

Now these creatures are not only haunting his nights, but his days. And they have a tendency to show themselves around people who are about to die. Seeking help he turns to a psychic who gives him a very special book. A book that he was destined to find. Jack learns that the only way he will ever know about who he was, is to face his worst fears, and die . . . again.

In a series of incredible twists and turns, Jack finds out that the worlds of the living and of the dead are much closer than any of us can possibly imagine. And monsters . . . are real.

When Honey the Great Dane finds a hidden note inside a strange Christmas bauble, the festive season takes a sinister turn. Was the note from a trapped child? Join Honey and her canine friends as they set off on a Search & Rescue–from snowy playgrounds to eerie libraries–while they race to solve the mystery of the message in the bauble.

Kids and dog lovers will love this action-packed Christmas mini-mystery filled with suspense and humour – not to mention candy canes, gingerbread cookies and lots of mince pies! (Age: 9+)

(This short novella is part of the Big Honey Dog Mysteries – don’t forget to check out Book #1: Curse of the Scarab – the first adventure in the series!)

Knitting is presently enjoying a renaissance. Around the world, people young and old are discovering–or rediscovering–the joy of working with needles and yarn. Basic Knitting serves as a comprehensive introduction to the fundamental skills you will need to master in order to become a knitter. The focus of the first half of the book is on detailed, step-by-step text and photo sequences that will teach you how to execute the basic stitches and techniques of knitting. The second half of the book teaches you how to apply these basic skills when completing actual projects.